Nutating disc internal combustion engine



p 3, 1963 D. B. DAY ETAL 3,102,517

NUTATING DISC INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Nov. 8, 1961 s Sheets-Sheeti INVENTORS DONALD B. DAY BY WALTER .J. KOERNER Sept. 3, 1963 I D, B. DAY ETAL 3,102,517

NUTATING DISC INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Nov. 8, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 9 FIG. IO

INVENTORS DONALD B. DAY BY WALTER J. KOERNER fim Sept. 3, 1963 D. B. DAY ETAL 3,102,517

NUTATING DISCINTERNAL. COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Nov. 8, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 CHAMBER VOLUME ENGINE ROTATION 1- -1 CHAMBER VOLUME E NGINE ROTATION FIG. I2

IN V EN TORS DONALD B. DAY BY WALTER J. KOERNER United States Patent 3,102,517 NUTATING DISC INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Donald B. Day, Woodland Hills, and Walter J. K'oerner,

Granada Hills, Calif; assignors to The Marquardt Corporation, Van Nuys, Calif., a corporation of California i Filed Nov. 8, 1961, Ser. No. 151,029 12 Claims. (Cl. 123-8) This invention relates to a nutating disc type of internal combustion engine and more particularly to a nutating disc internal combustion engine which is capable of operation on the principle of the Otto cycle.

The output axis of a nutating disc generates a cone, and by positioning the power takeofi at the right location along the surface of the cone, it is possible to completely balance the engine and eliminate all external forces. Thus, high speed operation Without vibration is possible, Whereas in standard reciprocating internal combustion engines, vibration is a very diflicult problem at high speeds. Further, standard reciprocating internal combustion engines require a crank, connecting rods and valve actuating trains, whereas the only moving parts of the nutating disc engine of the present invention are the nutating disc and-the output shaft. It is therefore apparent that the engine of the present invention possesses greater reliability by virtue of its lesser number of moving parts.

In operation of the engine of the present invention, each revolution of the output shaft of the nutating disc results simultaneously in a suction stroke, a compression stroke, an expansion stroke and an exhaust stroke. The suction and compression strokes are accomplished simultaneously on one side of the disc and the expansion and exhaust strokes are accomplished simultaneously on the other side of the disc. Therefore, the similarity to the Otto cycle principle utilized in reciprocating internal combustion is apparent. A splitter plate is provided to divide the gaseous substance on each side of the disc into two separate chambers. supporting spherical surface are contained within a chamber and the disc has revolving line contacts with the upper and lower surfaces of the chamber, which lines are always 180 degrees apart. The two separate chambers on each side of the disc are on opposite sides of the contact line and are separatedlby the splitter plate. in order to provide for a transfer of the compressed air-fuel mixture from the compression chamber on one side of the disc to the combustion (expansion) chamber on the other side of the disc, a valve relief is provided which cooperates with a passage in the splitter plate during a certain portion of the revolution of the engine in order to accomplish the trans-fer function.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a nutaItin-g disc type of internal combustion engine in which intake, compression, expansion and exhaust strokes are accomplished simultaneously during each revolution of the output axis connected with the nutating disc. 7

Another object of the present invention is to provide a nutating disc intennal combustion engine having a nutating disc supported by a ball structure and located within a confined chamber, the space above and below the mutating disc each being divided into two separate chambers by a splitter plate extending through the disc at one location in the chamber.

A further object of the invention is to provide a nutating disc internal combustion engine in which a nutating disc is supported by a ball structure and confined within a chamber; the space on opposite sides of the disc being The disc and i 1 3,ld2,5 l I Patented Sept. 3, 19 63 on the other side of the disc.

Another object of the invention is to provide a nutating disc type of internal combustion engine which utilizes the Otto cycle principle by having successive intake, compression, expansion and exhaust actions :upon the same volume of fuel-air mixture.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mutating .disc internal combustion engine operating upon the-Otto cycle principle and being entirely balanced to eliminate external loads, and having a minimum number of moving parts to provide greater reliability.

These. and other objects of the present invention not specifically set forth above will become readily apparent from the accompanying. description and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section, partly in elevation, of the nutating disc engine of the present invention showing the nutating disc supported within .a chamber by a ball structure and illustrating the splitter plate, the valve relief and theuoutput shaft.

FIGURE 2 is a transverse section along line 2--2 of FIGURE 1 showing the valve relief and the valve passage int-he splitter plate.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section along line 33 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the valve passage in the splitter plate.

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section along line 44 of FIGURE 1, showing the position of the intake port relative to the splitter plate.

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section along line 55 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the position of the exhaust port relative to the splitter plate.

FIGURE 6 is a top view of the mutating disc showing the spring biased sealing members engaging the splitter plate.

FIGURE 7 is .a diagrammatic view illustrating the positions of the engine components during. the intake stroke.

FIGURE 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the position of the engine components during transfer from the compression chamber to the combustion chamber.

FIGURE 9 is a diagrammatic view showing the position of the engine components at the start of the expansi'onvstroke after ignition has occurred. 1

FIGURE 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the position of the engine components during exhaust.

i FIGURE 11 is a graphical illustration of volume change in the intake and compression chambers accornplished on the lower side of the nutating disc during each revolution.

FIGURE 12 is a graphical illustration of the volume change in the expansion and exhaust strokesaccomplished on the upper. side of the nutating disc during each revolution.

Referring now to the embodiment of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration, the engine 15 comprises an air cooled casing having upper and lower sections 17 and 18 and an iutermediate'section 16. The

lower section 18 has a "frusto spherical surface 19 which supports the lower portion of 'aball 20 and the upper casing section 17 has a frusto spherical surface 21 which engages the upper portion of the ball 20. 22 of the intermediate casing section 16 is a portion of a spherical surface generated on the same center as the center of ball 20. It is therefore apparent that the surface 22 together with the lower surface 23 of casing section 17 and the upper surface 24 of lower casing section 18 define a casing chamber in which is located the Inner surface the nutating disc to the other.

' The nutating disc has u-pper and lower conical edge surfaces 27 and 28, respectively. The upper surface 27 makes a line contact 29 with surface 23 of casing section 17 at any given position of the nutating disc 25, and the lower surface 28 makes a line contact 30 with surface 29 at any given position of the nutating disc. FIGURE 1, it is apparent that the line contact 30' is 180 displaced from the line contact 29 and of course, the line contacts will move around the surfaces upon nutation of the disc 25.

Another casing section 34 is secured to lower section 13 by bolts 35 and these two sections define a compartment 36'which contain-s head 37 of output shaft 38. The head has a space 39 which contains a ball bearing structure 40 for receiving axis 41 projecting from the ball 28'.

The axis 41 extends through the center of the ball 20 and is'perpendicular to the plane of the nutating disc 25. Upon nutation of the disc 25, the axis 41 will generate a cone and thereby cause revolution of the output shaft 38. The output shaft is supported within the casing section 34 by 'ball bearing structures 42 and 43, and the head 37 has a relief 44 of sufficient size to rotationally balance the head 37.

The spaces above and below. the nutating disc 25 are interrupted by a splitter plate 50 which is secured in recesses in the upper and lower casing sections 17 and 18. The splitter plate extends through the nutating disc 25 and is curved at its outer surface 51 to conform to the inner surface 22. The inner surface 52 and 53 of plate 50 are also-curved to be normally in sealing engagement with the surface of the ball 20. A port 54 extends vertically through the splitter plate 50 and entrance 55 of the port has an angular edge 55 while the exit opening 57 discharges along the upper surface of the nutating disc 25.

A substantially square valve relief 58 is located in the surface of the ball 20 and as the disc 25 nutates, this relief moves into and out of overlapping position with the angular edge '56 of the inlet 55, while at the same time the relief remainsin communication with the space above surface 24. Thus, overa certain range of travel of the mutating axis 41, the relief 58 can transfer compressed gas from one side of the nutating disc to the other side through the port 54. As illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, the side 59 of the relief 58 is substantially parallel to the angular edge 56 of the inlet opening when a transfer of fluid to port 54 is taking place and a portion of the inner surface 53 of the splitter plate is over the relief 58.

An air-fuel inlet passage 62 is located in the casing section 18 and is displaced slightly to one side of the splitter plate as illustrated in FIGURE 4. The opening 62 is connected with an external manifold 63 through a suitable passage 64 in the lower casing section 18 so that a continuous supply of air-fuel mixture is available to the opening 62. In a similar manner, an exhaust opening 66 is located to one side of the splitter plate in the upper casing section 17 and communicates with an external exhaust manifold 67 through a passage 68 in the upper casingsection 17, as illustrated in FIG- URE 5.

Since any particular location along the circumference of the disc will lemniscate during notation of the disc 25 a sealing member 70 is located on each side of the splitter plate 50 and is *held in engagement therewith by a leaf spring 71 engaging abacking 72 located transversely within the disc 25. Since the sealing members 70 can move within openings in the disc, a continuous sealing Referring to I engagement between the elements 70 and the splitter plate 50 can be maintained in spite of the lemniscating movement of the disc at the location of the splitter plate. Because of the presence of the splitter plate, it is apparent that this space below the disc will be divided into a chamber B behind theline contact 30 and into a cham- .ber C ahead of the line contact 30 when engine rotation is clockwise. In the same manner, the space above the nutating disc will be divided into a chamber G behind the line contact 29 and intoa chamber I ahead of the line contact 29. The chambers are of various volume depending upon the positions of the line contacts 29 and 30.

A spark plug 75 is threaded into upper casing section 17 to communicate with the chamber G. Ignition of the fuel-air mixture transferred from chamber C to chamber G is ignited by the spark plug so that expansion of the gas serves to drive the mutating disc 25 and maintain its motion. A cam 76 is secured to the output shaft 38 and carries an electrical contact 77 which engages a stationary electrical contact 78 carried by the casing sec tion 34, once every revolution of the engine. The earn 76 is so positioned that ignition in chamber G will result after valve relief 58 has completed its discharge to the port 54. It is understood that suitable electrical connections between the plug 75 and the electrical contacts 77 and 7 8 are provided.

The operation of the engine of the present invention is best illustrated by the schematic illustration of FIGURES 7 through 10 and by the graphical illustrations of FIG- the chamber C ahead of the line contact 30 will decrease in size. During the first rotation of the disc, the charm ber C will contain only air. However, at the start of the second revolution, the fuel-air mixture which was drawn into chamber B will be transferred to chamber C as the line contact moves past the splitter plate 50. In other words, the fuel-air mixture in chamber B (behind the line contact 30 and between the line contact and the splitter plate) is transferred to chamber C (ahead of the line contact 30 and between the line contact and the splitter plate) as the line contact moves past the splitter p ate. and all revolutions thereafter, compression of the fuelair mixture confined in chamber C between the splitter plate and the line contact 30 will take place simultaneously with the intake of another charge of fuel-air mixture in the chamber B.

As the line contact 30 approaches the splitter plate 50, the chamber C is reduced in size as illustrated in FIG- URE 8. Also, the valve relief 58 in the surface of the ball 20 moves into registration with the inlet 55 of the port 54. Since the edge 59 of the relief moves past the side 56 of the inlet, this overlapping causes communication between the chamber C and the port 54, as illustrated in FIGURE 8, in order to transfer the high pressure fuelair mixture from chamber C to chamber G. As the line contact 30 moves closer to the splitter plate 50, the valve relief 58 moves back away from the inlet 55, as illustrated in FIGURE 9, in order to trap the compressed fuel-air mixture in the chamber G. The spark plug 75 is then fired to ignite the fuel-air mixture in chamber G to produceia driving force on the vnutating disc |by gasses expanding in the chamber G behind the line contact 29.

During the first revolution of the engine, the chamber I (ahead of the line contact 29 and between the line contact and the splitter plate) will contain only air which will. be discharged through the exhaust port 66 as the chamber I is reduced in size. As the line contact 29' passes the splitter plate 50, the combusted gasses in chamber G are transferred to chamber I so that the chamber G (behind the contact line 29 and between the contact line Thus, during thesecond revolution of the engine 29 approaches the splitter plate 50 to reduce the volume of the chamber I.

In FIGURE 10, the chamber I has been reduced to almost zero since the line contact 29 has almost reached the splitter plate 56. At the same time, the volume of chamber G containing the combustion products resulting from ignition of the mixture, is maximum. Further rotation of the nutating disc from its position in FIGURE will place the combustion products in chamber I ahead of theline contact 29, at which time the chamber I will have maximum volume and the chamber G will have minimum volume. In FIGURE 10, the valve relief 58 is shown considerably displaced from the inlet 55 since the inlet chamber B and the compression chamber C are of about equal volume and further reduction in chamber C will take place before the valve relief 58 will move into the position of FIGURE 8 to transfer the compressed gasses to the chamber G.

In summary, the invention relies upon the presence of two chambers below and two chambers above the nutating disc 25. The intake chamber B enlanges to draw in a fuehair mixture charge behind the line contact 30, while at the same time the compression chamber C ahead of the line contact 39 compresses a previous charge within the decreasing space between the line contact 30 and the splitter plate. Vihen suflicient compression is obtained, the valve relief 58 moves into communication with the tnansfer port 54 to introduce the pressure fuel-air mixture to the chamber G. After the valve relief 58 has moved out of communication with the port 54, the fueloir mixture in chamber G is ignited by plug 75 to drive the nutating disc by expansion of the gasses in charnber G. The chamber I containing the combusted products of the previous ignition decreases in size in the space ahead of the line contact 29 and the combusted products are expelled through the exhaust opening 625 during this decrease in volume. The combined sizes of compression chamber C and combustion chamber G during communication remain approximately constant so that the fuel-air mixture will move quickly from chamber C to chamber G.

Referring to FIGURE 11, the repetitive changes in volume for each 360 degrees of rotation of the nutating disc is illustrated by the theoretical line D and it is ob vious that the intake chamber B increases to a maximum while the compression chamber C decreases to a minimum during each revolution, commencing when the line contact .34 is located at the splitter plate. In a similar manner, the theoretical curve B of FIGURE 12 illustrates that the volume of combustion chamber G increases to a maximum during each 360 degrees of rotation while the exhaust chamber I decreases to a minimum, commencing when the line contact 29 is at the splitter plate.

It is understood that the time lag between the end of the compression stroke and the time of ignition can be varied in accordance with the engine structure and with the dynamics of the particular fuel-air mixture. During one revolution of the engine, all steps of the Otto cycle (intake, compression, expansionv and exhaust) occur simultaneously on different gas quantities whereas in the usual reciprocating engine, these steps occur in sequence on a single fuel-air charge. It is apparent that the engine structure can be varied so that the disc is mounted on gimbals instead of on the ball structure as illustrated,

and that the engine could be liquid cooled instead of being air cooled by the fins shown attached to the casing sections. Various other modifications are contemplated by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A nutating disc internal combustion engine comprising a disc mounted Within a hollow casing for nutation, upper randlower annular spaces within said casing on opposite sides of said disc, means extending through said disc at one location for providing a barrier in each of said spaces, means for connecting a fuel-air mixture to the space below said disc to permit a fuel-air charge to be drawn into and compressed in the space below the disc in successive engine revolutions, and means for transferring said compressive charge to the space above the disc for ignition during a following revolution.

2. A mutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 1 having exhaust passage means connecting with the space above said disc to permit the combustion product resulting from ignition of said charge to be exhausted during the engine revolution following the ignition revolution.

3. A nutating disc internal combustion engine comprising a disc mounted within a hollow casing'for nutation, means projecting from opposite sides of said disc and extending to the upper and lower surfaces of said casing for defining separate spaces above and below said disc, means extending through said disc at one location for providing a barrier across each of said spaces, shaft means extending from said disc for rotating an output member upon notation of said disc, the circumferential portion of said disc being in rotating seal-ing contact with said upper and lower surfaces at locations spaced degrees and being in continuous sealing contact with the side of said casing, an intake passage for introducing a fuel-air mixture to an expanding intake chamber below said disc during one revolution of said engine, said mixture being transferred to a compression chamber below said disc during the next revolution, valve means for transferring said mixture to an expansion chamber above said disc during the last part of the compression revolution, and ignition means for combusting said mixture in said expansion chamber after completion of the transfer from the compression chamber.

4. A nutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 3 wherein said valve means comprises a transfer portin' said extending means, and a valve relief in said projecting means located below said disc for connecting said compression chamber with said port during the last part of the compression revolution.

5. A nutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 4 wherein said projecting means below said disc comprises a ball surface for supporting said nutating disc on said lower casing sunface, said valve relief being in said ball surface and moving with said ball surface from a position above said lower casing surface to a position partially below same at the time of said mixture transfer.

6. A nutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 3 wherein said intake passage communicates with said lower space ata location adjacent said extending means so that the rotating sealing contact of said disc with said lower surfiace draws fuel-air mixture into said intake chamber located behind the rotating contact and between the rotating contact and said extending means. A

7. A nutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 6 wherein said compression chamber is located ahead of the rotating contact and between the rotation contact and said extending means, said compression chamber receiving said fuel-air mixture as said rotating contact moves past said extending means and therecates with said expansion chamber at a iocation adjacent said extending means and on the same side thereof as said intake passage, an exhaust chamber for receiving the combustion products of said mixture and located ahead ,of the rotating contact of the disc with the upper surface means the combustion products in said expansion chamher being transferred to said exhaust chamber as said upper rotating contact passes said extending means, said exhaust chamber decreasing in size thereafter to expel the combustion products through said exhaust passage.

10. A nutating disc internal combustion engine comprising a disc mounted within a hollow casing defined by flat upper and lower surfaces and a cylindrical surface extending between said fiat surfaces, means projecting from opposite sides of said disc and extending to said upper and lower surfaces for defining separate spaces above and below said disc between said spherical surface and said projectingmeans, means extending through said disc at one location and between said upper and lower surfaces for dividing both said upper and lower spaces, the circumference portion of said disc being shaped to provide rotating line contacts with said upper and lower surfaces and sealing contact with said spherical surface during nutation of said idisc, said line contacts and said extending means dividing each space above and below the n-utating disc into two chambers with one chamber ahead of the contact line and one chamber behind the contact line, a port in said extending means connecting between said lower and upper spaces, an intake passage located in said lower surface adjacent one side of said extending means, an exhaust passage located in said upper surface adjacent the other side of said extending means, valve means carried by said projecting means 'below said disc for connecting one of said lower chambers to one of said upper chambers through said port when said one lower chamber has reduced volume, ignition means located in said one upper chamber, and means for actuating said ignition means after disconnection of said valve means.

11. A nutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 10' wherein said mutating disc contains flexible sealing members for maintaining a tight seal between said extending means and said disc during movement of the disc relative to the extending means.

12. A nutating disc internal combustion engine as defined in claim 10 having shaft means extending from said disc for rotating an output member upon nutation of said disc, said output member being connected to said shaft at a location to eliminate external forces on said engine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 865,891 Heberling et al Sept. 10, 1907 2,069,646 Cohen Feb. 2, 19-37 2,173,663 Raymond Sept. 19, 1939 

1. A NUTATING DISC INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE COMPRISING A DISC MOUNTED WITHIN A HOLLOW CASING FOR NUTATION, UPPER AND LOWER ANNULAR SPACES WITHIN SAID CASING ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID DISC, MEANS EXTENDING THROUGH SAID DISC AT ONE LOCATION FOR PROVIDING A BARRIER IN EACH OF SAID SPACES, MEANS FOR CONNECTING A FUEL-AIR MIXTURE TO THE SPACE BELOW SAID DISC TO PERMIT A FUEL-AIR CHARGE TO BE DRAWN INTO AND COMPRESSED IN THE SPACE BELOW THE DISC IN SUCCESSIVE ENGINE REVOLUTIONS, AND MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING SAID COMPRESSIVE CHARGE TO THE SPACE ABOVE THE DISC FOR IGNITION DURING A FOLLOWING REVOLUTION. 